Front Passenger Squeak Located. Now What Strut?

[Thewetdream]

Hey guys! I've been seeing posts where people are trying to find a front passenger or driver side wheel well squeak..... welp I located one and maybe it will help you find yours lol...... anyways 2015 Ram 1500 Quad Express 5.7 8spd 57,000 +/-. Around 6 or 7k miles ago (almost 2 years ago) I installed a 1.5'' body lift, bilstein 5100 front set at 2.8 / bilstein rears + rear 1'' coil block. 35x12.5R20s full clear no issues. 2 weeks ago I decided I wanted to do a little maintenance figuring it had to be due for brakes and wanted the upper control arms that would allow better angles for all the suspension/drive components. The front end seemed to be getting a lil worn down I was hearing a high end chirp over the littlest bump front passenger wheel well and wanted to replace some other things. I installed the powerstop rotors and pads front/rear, new front sway bar links, new rough country upper control arms (with new ball joints and now greaseable). Took it for a test ride, broke in the brakes, front end def. felt tighter but the squeak still existed. I found it today..... top upper strut nut ( the one that has a allen head on top to hold so you can tighten the nut down) loose as a goose but still tight enough that there is about 3/8th of a inch worth of threads are still showing up top. So I go into the garage I have this rachet/socket set that the middle is hollow so that it allows me to hold the strut thread with a allen and use the socket to actually tighten down the nut......... welp this sucker wont budge in either direction and I believe I have now stripped the allen up top &@!$$%!!!!........ I know that is def. causing the squeak cause I sprayed it with lube first before I attempted to tighten it down and when I failed to do so and had to go to work the squeak is now silenced which I know will be temporarily.......... Im wondering where to go from here and asking for some of your experiences ........... My gut is telling me to order another 5100 strut because its probably now ****** at this point, get everything off the truck and compress the spring and have a new one ready for the big possibility that the thing is all marred up ill be cutting it off and now ill have a new one by my side to install and get the truck back on the road.......what do yall think?

 

[kurek]

Sounds like you might've got bit by the ol' washer-in-the-wrong-place switcheroo.

If the little allen keyway at the top of your strut is stripped/rusted you may not have much of a choice but to replace the strut, you'll almost certainly have to replace the upper strut mount if the washer was installed wrong because the center will have been punched out of it.

Sometimes you can get top strut mount nuts out with an impact but what you do not want to do is just run the impact gun continually.. that's just going to heat up and destroy the seals in the strut. Do it in short bursts, just let it hit once or twice then let go, wait a second, then repeat. The idea is you want that first impact to turn the nut while the shaft is still stationary, once the shaft starts spinning it's not going to do you any good. Should go without saying but DO NOT remove that nut with the coil spring unrestrained, you need to have a coil spring compressor correctly taking tension off the strut before doing any of this unless you love the smell of emergency rooms.

 

[Thewetdream]

Yeah I might have made that mistake with the washer, it’s possible…. I think I’m going to order a top strut mount and a new bilstein 5100 and just tear it down the right way and give everything a good look at…… I’ll see what kind of parts I can get asap I’m off the next couple of days ……keep yah posted

 

[Thewetdream]

So I had to cut off the nut on the top of the strut in order to reinstall new strut and top mount. I probably didn’t need a new top mount as it didn’t punch the hole out, but you were 100% right I put the washer up top. ….. after I put the new side all back together I tackled the other side and dissembled the top mount from the strut relocated the washer and put it all back together before that one started giving me issues ……. Took it for a ride and all is tight and quiet….. thank you for your help

 

[Prunes]

For what's worth, I had the same problem and come to find out the strut was bent slightly and rubbing on the upper strut mount causing the center hole to be worn in an egg shape. I am not sure if this was caused by a washer placement issue but I ended having to replace the strut and upper strut mount. Now I am having the same issue on the other side.